Category Archives: Food

The French Laundry

I entered sacred ground last Saturday, April 3rd, 2010. Here are photographs of (nearly) every dish and course served over a three and a half hour period of overindulgence.

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Posted on April 9, 2010 in Food · · Comments closed

Bay Area coffee expands to the East Coast

The NY Times takes a look at the circle of homegrown coffee spots in the Bay Area that have become so immensely popular, they’ve begun moving out to New York.

The result has been a period of intense experimentation with French press pots, Chemex drip systems, Bonmac porcelain cones, and the current ne plus ultra, the V60 glass cone from the Japanese company Hario.

With all the fancy tech and top quality beans being imported into San Francisco, it’s pretty much guaranteed you’re going to get an amazing cup of coffee (or a shot of espresso).

(A small but just-as-good gem is Trouble Coffee.)

Posted on April 8, 2010 Also posted in NYC, San Francisco · , , , , , · Comments closed

Interview with Daniel Bowien of Mission Street Food / Burger

SF Weekly interviews Daniel Bowien of Mission Street Food and Mission Street Burger.

Favorite off-night spots?
Sebo, Popeyes. [Bowien told us he's been on the hunt for great fried chicken lately.]

You can’t beat the Tuesday 99¢ special at Popeyes. Part two of the interview here.

Posted on April 6, 2010 Also posted in San Francisco · , , · Comments closed

Reasons to move back to NYC — Pies ‘n’ Thighs

I’ve been saying that the one thing that would get me to move back to the East Coast would be my former local favorite: Pies ‘n’ Thighs. They closed down a few years back but they’re finally reopened as of today. I guess that means I better start packing my bags.

Posted on March 1, 2010 Also posted in NYC · , , , · Comments closed

Mission Street Food - Beef served seven ways

Mission Street Food made a menu preparing beef seven (actually, ten) different ways.

Oxtail Terrine with fines herb gelee, root vegetable brunoise, truffled egg, mixed chicories, puffed barley, sorrel

I won’t lie — I ate two orders of the terrine…

Beef Consomme with Marrow Butter Toast, persillade

Surf & Turf: Simmered Atlantic Skate and Crispy Veal Sweetbreads with asparagus, crushed pea, sea urchin emulsion

Aged USDA Prime Ribeye with potato espuma, charred scallion pickle and bearnaise

Tongue & Cheek: Seared Tongue, Braised Cheek, savoy cabbage, demiglace, fresh horseradish

This was easily one of the best meals I’ve had at Mission Street Food. I’m looking forward to the next visit…

Posted on February 26, 2010 Also posted in San Francisco · , · Comments closed

Zucco of NYC’s Le French Diner passes away

Zucco, the face and owner of Le French Diner on Orchard St. in the Lower East Side, passed away from an apparent heart attack on February 13th, 2010. You will be missed. (Thanks for the link, Chris Sojka.)

Image via Bowery Boogie.

Posted on February 16, 2010 Also posted in NYC · , , · Comments closed

Ramen in Tokyo

The NY Times takes a peek into the craze of ramen noodles.

For many of the ramen obsessives — myself included — it was all, I suspected, about the hunt. Whether they were scouring the Japanese media for leads or wandering around, nose in the air, eyes alert to suspicious lines, finding gems among Tokyo’s 4,137 ramen shops (a conservative estimate, by the way) was a laborious process that made the final first slurp that much sweeter.

Be warned: if you read this on an empty stomach, you will crave a heaping bowl of shoyu ramen.

Posted on February 1, 2010 Also posted in Links · , , · Comments closed

NYC salt reduction initiative

Bloomberg just passed a salt reduction initiative that would look to better manage the use of sodium in restaurants. Here’s how some of the most popular venues fared against the daily recommended value of sodium:

At Shake Shack, a Double ShackBurger, fries and a peanut butter shake pack 1,980 milligrams — a lot of sodium, yes, but goodness, a lot of food.

That’s a lot of sodium—but not so bad considering it’s a burger, fries, and shake. The real kicker is Katz’s Deli:

Katz’s justifiably famous corned beef sandwich, with mustard but only two of the six pickles the counter guy gave me (along with his number), came to a truly remarkable 4,490 milligrams of sodium. That’s about two whole days’ worth in one sandwich, nearly the equivalent of 10 McDonald’s hamburgers.

I feel guilty for slamming down so many of those sandwiches while I was in college.

Posted on February 1, 2010 Also posted in NYC · · Comments closed

A primer on apéritifs

The NY Times goes over a few of the popular Italian apéritifs just in time for the holidays.

Via @JoseRMejia.

Posted on November 24, 2009 Also posted in Links · , , · Comments closed

Why phở restaurant names usually involve numbers

Serious Eats reveals why phở restaurants have a peculiar numbering system.

Posted on November 22, 2009 Also posted in Links · · Comments closed

15 things worth knowing about coffee

Here’s a funny comic detailing 15 things worth knowing about coffee. The last tidbits about adenosine is new to me, and frankly something I probably should know about before hopping up on caffeine.

Posted on November 19, 2009 Also posted in Links · , · Comments closed

Mission Burger’s tonkatsu hot dog

Danny Bowien, over at Mission Street Food (and Mission Burger), made tonkatsu hot dogs last Friday. Come through to Duc Loi Supermarket tonight at 5:30pm; he’ll be making more treats this time around.

Posted on October 2, 2009 Also posted in San Francisco · , , , · Comments closed

Bacon, lettuce, and tomato Kama Sutra

Posted on September 28, 2009 in Food · , , · Comments closed

Restaurant hospitality

Bruce Feiler details his experience as the maître d’ at Union Square Cafe in a 2002 article for Gourmet Magazine.

The restaurant has a number of procedures designed to bring small pleasures. Those going to the theater get a card under their salt shaker to ensure speedier service. If it’s raining, they’ll give guests a free umbrella to take home. If guests are having difficulty deciding between two desserts, the server will often deliver their choice-and the other at no charge. “You are working for a company that is looking long-term at those kinds of decisions,” Meyer tells recruits. “Not ‘Oh my God, we gave away eight desserts.’” This system is even more striking when things go wrong. When a child dropped a Sprite in the bar, the entire family got new drinks. Meyer calls this “writing a great last chapter.”

Posted on September 25, 2009 Also posted in Links, NYC · , , , · Comments closed

The slick $20 tip

Gourmet Magazine had an article, from 2000, exploring how far a $20 could get you with high-end restaurants sans a reservation.

There were 50 people lingering in the foyer of Sparks Steak House, a bastion of male power, when I entered at 8:15 with a male friend. We were told it would be 9:45 before we could be seated. I asked to be put on the list.

Given the size of the crowd and the length of the wait, I decided to reach for my right pocket. I waited until the man behind the podium was alone (Rule No. 6) and rested my left hand lightly on his back. Suddenly, I was Fred Astaire and he was Ginger Rogers. He knew exactly what to do. He pivoted toward me and turned his right hand from face down to face up, giving me a target. I slipped the bill into his hand and said again, “This is a really important night for me.”

He disappeared briefly, then 45 seconds later, he reappeared at my elbow. “Right this way,” he announced, and led us to a table. I had jumped a 50-person line and saved myself an hour-and-a-half wait. Forget Frank Sinatra. I was now James Bond.

I think I’ve slipped a $20 to a maître d’ in the past and it has worked. In today’s climate, however, I’m not sure how well this would work; it may even work better since more folks are skimping while dining out.

Posted on September 25, 2009 Also posted in Links · , · Comments closed